Life — January 5, 1893 — page 18: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

16 rendered him the very man for such a paper. A letter was dispatched to him, and 1 hurried back to New York. While waiting for Martin's answer, an ener- getic but fruitless search was begun for a busi- The more | searched the more ness manager. obvious it became that business managers of desirable quality were not made to be had for the asking. sted at this period, No time was \ and spare hours were used in making draw- | | H ' ings for the unborn sheet. It was impor- | tant the cover should be drawn at once, i but it seemed impossible to find a name | able words problem confu- for the paper as the most sui were already in use. It w in which the dictionary was onl sion. As for my own brain, it crawled | | i] | away in a state of paralysis when the ' | i question confronted it. All the undesira- words of the English language clamored for recognition and obscured the field. But one afternoon, while roughly sketching all the shortest words that could possibly serve the purpose, Lire, seemingly of its own accord, danced forth from the end of the pencil. ple and magniticently comprehensive that I at once de It was so short, sim- ided to use it, and without loss of time set to work upon a drawing for the cover. A day or two after, when this drawing was nearly completed, | dropped in at Brentano's to look over other periodicals and assure myself that my design bore not Find- ing nothing that resembled it, |v beginning to cong: late myself on the fact that the tide at least would be reason- ably fresh, when to my surprise and horror, | saw upon the counter a complacent, prosperous looking English Lg From the number and volume it was evidently a publication of long standing. After a little reflection, however, it seemed safe to assume that as | had never seen or heard of it, its too close a likeness to some cover already in the field. LE REIT: SNE EE American circulation was diminutive. So after being assured that there was no infringement of copyright, the English Lz/e was ignored, and I went on with my cover. s the chances of securing an able, honest, and reasonably perfect business manager seemed to dwindle as the search continued, overtures were made to one or two publishers, but always with the same result. In fact the sarcastic smile with which success had so far held aloof seemed now to become a -d to develop. hearty laugh as the business end refus Martin soon came, and his confidence in the undertaking vas strong enough to induce him to remain, He at once be- EET TT TLE SS gan a gallant struggle to accumulate material. This was dispiriting work willing to bury their work in such an experiment. The result was that he produced himself as much matter as he received from other hands. tions of a business depa s the men of reputation were, as a rule, un- It was now November, with no indica- p- ‘tment, and the first issue was to a ble, clumsy and obviously inappropriate &. SM pear in January. By this time discouragement had come to be a portion of the daily life, and we took it in giant doses. The idea of starting such a paper had from the very outset excited among sensible friends only astonishment and “pity. Thus far scarcely a cheering word or a prophecy of success had been heard, so when a friend offered one day business mai to present me to the ger of a promi- nent illustrated weekly I gladly accepted, saying to myself, This man who knows the business can the sense of the endeavor, and will give me information and encouragement.” There were threads of silver in the hair of the business manager, and there in his voice. was decision He listened politely to a descrip- tion of the aims and hopes of the future paper, then, after a few intelligent questions, said: “As I understand, you mean to give the public a periodical about half the size of Harper's Weekly, Puck or Judge, and yet ask the same pr Now, to get that price, your smaller pub- lication must be unquestionably better in quality, both artistic and literary. Have you secured the men whose work and reputation will assure you that position ?"” “No. The artists are not to be had.” “And the literary men?” for it. The same with them.” “ That's bad enough. Is your own experience in journal- ism such as to warrant you in going ahead under such— peculiar circumstances ?" “T have had no experience in journalism,” * None whatever? * None whatever.” Phe man of experience indulged in a smile, but a smile ot s and pity. “ Would you mind telling me,” he my curiosity—on what you are building your hopes of sadne ked, “just to. gratify success?” “On the fact of there being an unoccupied field for it. If such papers can thrive in Europe, there must be a place for one in America.” “ Previous efforts have demonstrated the reverse, and they have done it pretty clearly “ But this paper will be a very different thing from any of its jar more artistic.” “ How can that be when the best men hold aloof ? ” I think it will prove an opportunity for talent now unrecognized to come to predecessors—of a higher grade and “That will occur only at the beginning. the front.” Again the business manager smiled the sorrowing smile. “All that you have said is pure theory, without a single solid fact on which it would be safe to risk a dollar. Take my advice and drop the whole business while you can. A comicbooks.com fe